Ara's Camarillo Cross Report

Capitan Crunch,

SoCal Cross Round #3 was this past weekend in quiet Camarillo. Turned out to be a beautiful day with warm temperatures and very flat course (not good for us mountain goats). Because I was racing solo for this round, missed the Downtown LA ride, decided to take the Amtrak up to the race course from home. Soo Cooool!!! Besides the fact that I went the total opposite way from the train station it was nice not have to think about driving on the parking lot that is the 101 freeway. Having a refreshing drink and putting your legs up on the way home was worth it.

The course was interesting. Rode through a barn, bmx track, softball infield, and what looked to be crops. Started off way in the back again but started to catch riders early, but couldnt seem to gap the usual suspects I've beaten in the past. Having a cross bike sure did help the riders in the tall grass and flats, not enough technical terrain for us dirtbag mountain bikers to work with, still love my Tomac Type-X 26er. That bike is so responsive and accelerates so fast out of turns. The sandy sections were better to run through than to ride, learned the hard way in the first lap, but clipping in and out of my Xpedo pedals was easy and flawless. Raffy from Mudfoot was hot on my wheel most of the race which was fun to compete with. Running Kenda Kosmik Lites 2's does help to pick up speed. To my surprise I ended up 10th out of 37 racers. Better than my 27th out of 90 in the first round in Costa Mesa (percentage). Took this race as a workout to get ready for Spooky-cross this weekend. Recovered well after the race with some Grape flavored Amino Vital Recovery.

Want to send a major shout-out to a Backbone Team friend and fellow racer, now a traveling bike mechanic at races, Steve Marshall. Thanks for letting me hangout in your booth and the cold towels after the race. Steve's family; parents and wife, are the friendliest folks. Thank you again.

Next race is this Saturday and Sunday .... Spooky-Cross and OktoberCross in Pomona! Hope to see the whole gang out there.

Fuzz

**Thanks Fuzzbucket!  Sounds like an awesome race, have fun at Spooky-Cross!**